It was a mixed weekend. After Falls Duathlon and another du the weekend after I took a full week to train. This weekend I tried a double, racing a sprint tri Saturday and the Gear West Duathlon Sunday. In the past the only double weekends I’ve done were with the Firehouse 50 team time trial on Saturday then a tri on Sunday. That went poorly the first year I tried it in 09 and fine the second year in 2010. The double was a nice push and I felt really strong a couple weeks later both times.

Saturday the sprint tri was fun but frigid. The swim was 51 degrees. That’s brisk. I felt like throwing up the first few minutes. The rest of the swim I just wanted to get the heck out of the water. I did not swim well at all. Heather Lendway absolutely demolished me. I was a mess in the first transition and it took the whole first lap of the bike to get myself sorted out. It was a straight forward bike with two laps of eight miles. I couldn’t even catch Heather until mile 6! I made up a bigger gap to Brian Sames at the Falls Duathlon within 3 miles. Maybe Brian should get some bike training tips from Heather. The run weaved through the local neighborhood and I swear we had a cop at every corner. The cop to participant ratio was the highest I’ve ever seen! It is always weird to be running through a quiet neighborhood with no one around. At one point I went by a guy kneeling on the sidewalk just working on the edges of his lawn. Oh, hello sir, good morning. Don’t mind me. It was nice to get a win to start the weekend off right. Since winners get gold medals, my sponsor The Gold Guys prefer I win races for better synergy with their brand. I agree and am trying to build as much synergy as possible this season.

My athlete Tom was very excited to pummel the field in his first race in the masters division. He’s also very excited for the AARP discounts.

Gear West Bike team won both the men’s and women’s race.

My special ‘recovery plan’ to freshen up for the Gear West Duathlon Sunday mostly included going out to dinner and a show. Thea got us tickets to comedian Aziz Ansari as a birthday present. Aziz is the best.

At Aziz!

Sunday was absolutely perfect, cool and sunny. Thea brought Teddy out to watch the race. He was very supportive and very popular. As for the race, the first run and the bike were unremarkable. Not fast but not terrible. The second run was pretty rough. The first mile was where I really paid the price for the double. After mile one I rallied slightly and gutted it out but it was not pretty. In the context of my training for the week and the double it is clear why the race was so mediocre. Unfortunately that doesn’t change how I feel, taking a beating like that still makes me mad!

GAME FACE

My athlete Erin got fifth! Yes she placed higher than me. Also note Joe Johnson getting water in the background.

This was a nice wrap for my spring races. I’m going to shave off the thermal beard for the warmer summer races. I went into these spring races looking to boost both fitness and confidence. The results show my new coach Steve Brandes knows what he is doing and our work together has been productive. Fun fact: Steve and I have been working together since Thanksgiving. We are in contact via text, email, facebook message, and twitter. I hassle him through one of these mediums at least once a day. Despite daily communication, I have not spoken a single word to Steve since we saw each other at Ironman Arizona. I guess he prefers to type it out rather than talk it out.

I put out a sponsorship opportunity at the Gear West Duathlon. I would sponsor anyone who got a selfie with me in it or who gave me an inventive high five. A twitter friend named David Kerber (@davekerber) did the best work and got a sneaky selfie with me in the background. Congrats David, the next time we meet you can collect your prizes. Will it be a dpalmertri t shirt? Will it be pure gold, courtesy of The Gold Guys? Will it be Quintana Roo’s new superbike the PRSix? Will it be a water bottle and swim cap from Gear West Bike? You’ll know soon. But please do tweet me your height so they know what size frame to send, oops I’ve said too much.

Well played, @davekerber

Next up are more local tris here in Minnesota through June. I’ll race three times ending with Rochesterfest. Then the next weekend I’m looking to do a relay at the Lake Waconia Tri and I will be recruiting teammates soon. After that it will be Lifetime Minneapolis then up to Ironman Cananda. I hinted at a new sponsor a couple weeks back and the big announcement is coming tomorrow!